Massachusetts' Department of Transitional Assistance is struggling to keep up with demand for assistance programs like Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as SNAP. Advocacy groups are asking the state to inject more cash into the agency as federal changes to public benefits introduce new complications.
Federal food benefits like SNAP are a crucial lifeline for thousands of families in Massachusetts, helping them put food on the table in the face of a steadily increasing cost of living.
Erin McAleer is the CEO of Project Bread, a Boston-based anti-hunger organization. They help residents across the state apply for food assistance, and connect them will local food banks and meal sites — all while advocating for stronger policy on food security.
McAleer says demand is higher than ever for food assistance, but it's also becoming harder for people to connect with the state's Department of Transitional Assistance or — DTA — which administers the benefits.
"The agency just doesn't have enough caseworkers to respond to that volume of demand. And so people are calling, and around 85% of the calls are just being dropped," they said.
McAleer says the problem is driven by a couple different things — first and foremost that more people are going hungry in Massachusetts than ever before. Food insecurity spiked nationwide during the pandemic, and never went back down.
"Just the need, it continues to grow. People are really struggling right now to afford the cost of living in Massachusetts and across the country," they said.
The most recent data from the Greater Boston Food Bank found that as of 2024, 2 million adults in Massachusetts have experienced food insecurity — coming out to around 1 in every 3 households. In parts of Western Massachusetts, it's more than half of households. Hampden County stands out, with a hunger rate of 53% nearly half of residents in Springfield are on SNAP.
With a swell in hunger comes an increase in demand for local food pantries. The Food Bank of Western Massachusetts and their partners served more than 120,000 people across the region each month in 2025.
"Just the need, it continues to grow. People are really struggling right now to afford the cost of living in Massachusetts and across the country." — Erin McAleer, CEO Project Bread
Executive Director Andrew Morehouse says they're glad to help the local community, but it's ultimately a band-aid to a systemic problem.
"We as a food bank network and our partner food pantries and meal sites — we'll plug the holes. But that's not a solution for ending hunger, especially as it continues to increase," he said.
Massachusetts residents hoping to use SNAP to feed themselves also face another roadblock: a federal administration that's making it harder for people to qualify for food assistance. Antoinette Hughes is a caseworker at the DTA.
"The Big Beautiful Bill came about, and there were changes that happened quickly. And what that meant is DTA staff had to adapt and adjust quickly. And in doing so, it's causing processing cases to take more time," she said.
That bill, passed last summer, added a host of new work requirements to be eligible for SNAP. It also removed some provisions that allowed recipients to self-verify things like their rent or expenses. Now caseworkers need to do that verification work, adding an extra administrative burden to the process.
"It takes up time, and that contributes to the wait time on the phone. And clients are coming through the doors as well, and that contributes to the wait time," she said.
Hughes said she's all too aware that when the DTA can't get someone their benefits in a timely manner, that person is likely cutting back on other essentials to feed themselves.
"So now what they have to do is allocate funds that was once meant for rent, utilities, childcare, medication. They now need to redo their budget," she said.
Both Hughes and McAleer with Project Bread say the state needs to invest more in staffing for the DTA to account for the hurdles emerging from the federal government. They argue that the agency, as it is now, is not equipped to handle the growing population of residents who are turning to food assistance.
Meredith Lively is a SNAP recipient from Amherst, and she agrees. She's experienced issues firsthand that stem from a lack of resources at the DTA.
"It seems to me that people are being asked to do more with less. When I needed to do my recertification, my caseworker wasn't even there that day," she said.
Lively says she's needed to process the same paperwork more than once, and when she calls the DTA, she often can't connect with her caseworker, or their supervisors. She says it makes a process that is already time-consuming, start to feel demoralizing.
"It doesn't feel very good. At all. Especially when I'm hungry I get hangry. So it has an acute effect, and a long term effect," she said.
The issues experienced by Lively and other SNAP recipients represent a real financial threat to Massachusetts. Because another aspect of that Big Beautiful Bill is shifting the cost of SNAP onto states, if they can't keep their error rate below 6%. Massachusetts is hovering around 14%. And an under-resourced DTA is more likely to make mistakes.
Project Bread is advocating for the state to hire around 200 more caseworkers at the DTA, and invest around $30 million into the agency. They say that will help get the error rate down, and make it easier for eligible residents who need food assistance to get it promptly.
